The frozen franchise is one of Disney’s biggest creations. And Elsa was the star of the show, her character captured everyone’s attention. 

I hope you’ve seen frozen but if you haven’t then you really should. Better late than never. 

Starting off at the beginning we could say Elsa was rather cold to everyone. But we understood that because we saw the bigger picture that other characters didn’t. She unintentionally hurt her little sister, Anna, while they were playing in the first scene of the animation, and on top of that her parents later passed away, and she was locked in her room for years. 

Each of these events played a role in her growing social anxiety. For someone who had been trapped indoors and avoided communications with even the palace staff and her sister, to be thrust into a room full of people and be declared their queen was a rather huge transistion. 

Let’s first take a look at what Social anxiety is? 

This is a feeling in which social interactions cause irrational anxiety. You dread the thought of interacting in social settings. 

For Elsa, we can say her powers conditioned her to be this way. It wasn’t like she had a say in being locked away. This with the fact that she couldn’t control said powers were enough reasons to stay away from society. 

In doing so, Doom knocked on her door when it was coronation day.

Of course, I can’t just declare that Elsa had social anxiety without some indicators as to how I arrived at this. 

 So here are a few social anxiety symptoms, Elsa exhibited are:

⦁ Fear that others will notice that you look anxious 

⦁ Intense fear of intercating with strangers

⦁ extreme worrying 

⦁ Trembling 

⦁ Muscle tension 

⦁ Not making eye contact when interacting with others

These are but social anxiety signs; you can check this post by Mayo clinic https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/social-anxiety-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353561 for a more detailed list. 

One of the main social anxiety causes for Elsa was the fear that she would not be accepted by her sister or town once they found out about her powers. 

Characters like Anna are a God sent. Anna was always loving and travelled far to let Elsa know that she accepted her just the way she was.

But even after years have passed, Elsa can’t get over the fact that she hurt her sister whether it was intended or not. This pain that she carried transalted into being locked in for years where she wouldn’t cause harm anymore. 

Now that we’ve looked at social anxiety definition, symptoms, causes and how they played out in the life of Elsa. 

Let’s explore how you can handle it.

 You can learn more about the medication for social anxiety available to people who suffer from social anxiety here, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/social-anxiety-disorder/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353567 but it’s best to see a medical practitioner and seek counsel first.  

 In Elsa’s case it was the presence of a loved one by her side that helped her overcome or at least cope with it. And we can say the acceptance of the town also played a role. 

In your case, the first thing you need to know is that embarrassments will always happen. A cause of social anxiety is the deep rooted fear that you will embarrass yourself in front of others. 

So let’s practice this excerise. Think back to an embarrassing event that you’ve witnessed. Once you can think of one, Focus on what happened that made the event embarrassing. 

Chances are you didn’t begin to roll on the floor with laughter, at most maybe you smiled at the memory. You look back to that event of someone else embarrassing themselves not with disdain or a cringe but with a smile or indifference. 

It’s the same thing that happens when you embarrass yourself. Maybe a good laugh or 2 but that’s it. It’s the spotlight effect that makes you think this way [ We’ll tackle the spotlight effect in another post] 

People do embarrassing things all the time and there are some embarrassing events that you’ve witnessed that you can’t even remember anymore. The mind is fickle so don’t think that because you fell down in front of people then they’re going to carry it on to their graves judging you. 

Some will and Some won’t. But focus on those who won’t. And leave the rest to play like background noise. 

Once you realize that the whole world isn’t paying attention to your every move it get’s easier. This is where some self deprecating humor would play a good role. 

Cultivate the habit of letting a few jabs pass and allowing it to roll off your back, the same way the soap does when taking a shower. Hear the joke and have a good laugh, If it is indeed funny or clever. Doing this over time helps you not to take things so seriously but rather be a good spurt. 

Then practice hanging out for a few hours with your friend or stay a little bit after class and just hang around. It would be uncomfortable at first because everything in you is just screaming to get out of there. But sit with the feeling, you can try a few minutes at a time and slowly build up. 

This last step is probably the hardest and even I haven’t fully mastered it,I try starting conversations with a stranger. And the best way to do so is through compliments. Find a genuine thing you like about the person and then approach them and just tell them, smile and walk away. 

This exercise won’t always be easy. I have had people ignore me when I say, ‘HI’ only to smile and respond when I follow it up with a, ‘You look great’ Or ‘Your smile is pretty’. So don’t get deterred by that. It will happen. 

Take a look at Elsa when Anna finally arrived to inform her of the situation back at home, Elsa mistakenly struck her with Ice. Again. 

Imagine you were Elsa, after hiding away for so long to protect her, the one time you get out, you hurt her again. You wouldn’t even want to show yourself again in public. You’ll want to move far away and just lock yourself up again but maybe in the castle of ice that you built. 

Regardless of how pretty it is, a prison is a prison. 

But instead she remined in Arendal with her sister. 

So know that the journey to recovery is going to be hard and filled with bumps and most importantly, It will take time. But what’s your reward for all this? 

A better realtionship with those that surround you. And that is what you should strive for.